REBECCA

Hitchcock's first American film ranks
among his greatest achievements, even if the director was dissatisfied
with the compromises made to suit producer David O. Selznick. It
was the second consecutive Selznick-produced film to win the Academy
Award for best picture, following the previous year's GONE WITH THE
WIND. Selznick's obsessive micromanagement style was fine for a
director like Vic Fleming, whose artistic contribution to GWTW
consisted of carrying out the boss's orders efficiently. But
Hitch was no mere craftsman, and the war of nerves between director and
producer on REBECCA was legendary (and exhaustively documented on the
Criterion-edition DVD of the film). The end result was a film
that reflected the strengths of both men: it looked like a Selznick
production and felt like a Hitchcock film. REBECCA was also a
faithful adaptation of the best-selling novel by Daphne du Maurier, but
the film's ominous tone, as well as the suspenseful relationship
between Joan Fontaine's unnamed central character and Judith Anderson's
obsessively sadistic Mrs. Danvers, were pure Hitchcock. -
JL